


A Gamblin' Heart

by oywiththepeetaalready



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 05:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/962323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oywiththepeetaalready/pseuds/oywiththepeetaalready
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Those around him can only assume greed is why he comes to the casino. But, you know what they say when you assume... PiP Day 2: Greed. AU Everlark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gamblin' Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Just a brief story for Prompts in Panem Seven Deadly Sins Challenge. A plot bunny that never evolved into much more than a drabble. And sorry the title is horrific. I couldn't think of a better one if my life depended on it.

Without fail, every Friday night, he finds himself loosening his tie and settling down at a black jack table.

He pretends to ignore the questioning gazes of the fellow gamblers as he drapes his suit jacket over the back of a chair.

They can tell he doesn’t need the money. The richness of his clothes he always wears hints at his wealth. They can tell he isn’t an addict. He lacks that hunger in his eyes. He can easily get up and leave the table if he wants. They can tell he doesn’t have a devoted love of the game. His mood is apathetic at best for the majority of his stay. They can tell he isn’t trying to escape a nagging wife. His ring finger remains bare of both wedding band and tan line to hint at one recently removed.

Clearly, Peeta Mellark just has a thirst for cash.

He must enjoy taking it from others; it must be a power trip, to desire something, always want more and be able to get it. He always seems to come out on top when the night ends. Only a man encouraged by a primal want or need could ever have this much success.

Everyone is right, but where they are wrong is what he is longing for.

Peeta Mellark could care less about the money.

No, what draws him here is the cigarette girl that always seems to work Friday nights.

 He had come by the casino one night a few months ago for his older brother’s bachelor party and immediately became intrigued by the petite brunette he noticed making the rounds with a small tray, offering to take drink orders and to let them purchase cigarettes and cigars.

He found his attention wandering to her frequently as he sat at a craps table near the edge of the blackjack section. He admired how elegant her tan limbs looked in the short red dress she wore, how her dark, braided hair was coiled into a bun on the back of her head, how she had just enough make up on to make her silvery eyes look mysterious and alluring.

That night, he had wandered through the rest of the casino, busily glancing this way and that to see the other girls working the same job. Most of them were curvy blondes, taller and filling out their similar uniforms just a bit better than the darker girl.

In fact, Peeta didn’t think he had seen a girl of her coloring working anywhere in the casino. They seemed to have a typecast in their hiring and picked from the same gene pool Hugh Hefner did when he selected his girlfriends.

So the next week, he had returned at the same time and played a few hands of blackjack in hopes of seeing the brunette again. After twenty minutes, he was not disappointed. The same outfit, same hairstyle, same makeup. She shows up, smiling and flirting with the men, obviously going only surface depth due to the grin that never quite met the eyes.

They had a few interactions, brief ones, but they occurred all the same.

The first time, he had winked at her and smiled. Not smirked, like most of the other so-called gentlemen who would try for her attention, slipping her obscene amounts of money as tips and using horrifically bad pick-up lines (if he heard one more idiot use “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” he was going to throw up). He had been surprised by the seemingly genuine smile that she had thrown his way, but was glad when she didn’t come his way with the tray of smokes.

It was obvious she understood.

He wasn’t there to make a pass, but he’d be damned if she wasn’t gonna know where his affections lied. So he would occasionally grin, wink or say a quick hello or how are you when she would pass by on the way to deal with some of the more…forward men who were catcalling or waving her down.

A few weeks passes and their interactions grow more frequent during his hours at the casino every Friday. She occasionally stops for a chat and he sits out a hand or two, determined to make the most out of their interactions.

He tells her of how he owns a restaurant down the strip and she mentions that she only worked on weekends in order to spend weeknights with her little sister. He informs her that his only true love is his German Shepherd that is never pleased that he stays out so late on Fridays. She laughs as she relates a story of a fellow waitress decking a guy who had tried something fresh the night before.

And now it isn’t just a few weeks, it is a few months.

And now it has been almost twelve weeks since Peeta’s first trip to the casino. Almost eight weeks since she shyly revealed her name was Katniss. Almost four weeks since he decided he definitely wanted to get to know her better. Almost twenty four hours since he got up the nerve to finally ask her out. Almost twenty three hours since she met him after her shift and said yes.

Almost three hours since he picked her up for dinner. Almost one hour since they arrived back at his place.

And now she is curled up in his arms on his couch while a movie plays in the background. And it will be another five hours before she even realizes she should have gone home a while ago.

A week later, the patrons of the casino notice there is a bright blond head missing from the usual crowd. In its place is a much brighter smile on a cigarette girl’s face. Of course, it wouldn’t be like them to put the two together.


End file.
